The Right Kind of FAITH

My faith is not in my ability to control my own destiny.
My faith is not in my good name and good living.
My faith is not in my church or its ceremonies.
My faith is not in my ability to improve myself.
My faith is not in my ability to push all negative thoughts out of my life.
My faith is not in my own sincerity.
My faith is not in my power to tap some inner, godlike resources.
My faith is in Jesus Christ.

[This excerpt is taken from Do I Have The Right Kind Of Faith? 2001 RBC Ministries.
Read it online at www.discoveryseries.org/q0603]

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, former pastor of London's Westminster Chapel said: "Faith is holding on to the faithfulness of God and, as long as you do that, you cannot go wrong. Faith does not look at the difficulties..... Faith does not look at itself or at the person who is exercising it. Faith look at God..... Faith is interested in God only, and it talks about God and it praises God and it extols the virtues of God.

Steamboat dinner

We were invited and blessed with a steamboat dinner at 'Zi Wei Yuan Steamboat' along Jalan Raja Uda, Butterworth yesterday. The restaurant is situated opposite the busy 'Apollo" open market. The place is spacious and there are wide varieties of choice.

There were also a good company of friends to share the good food.

CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP BUILDS US UP AND BINDS US TOGETHER.

Musical Performance

We were blessed when we attended our first musical performance at PenangPac
, Straits Quay, Tanjung Tokong, Penang on 12 January 2012.

MALAYSIAN GIRLS show us the existing world of a beauty pageant. It is full of catchy songs and explosive dance moves on high-heels together with glitzy costumes and high energy performance. The music is a bold fusion of iconic and equally captivating numbers.

Fostering Strong Family Ties

DAP national chairman Karpal Singh wants the government to enact a law making it a crime for children to abandon their aged parents.

He said this in view of a latest survey, conducted by the National Malaysian Population and Family Survey which showed that 675,000 citizens, or one out of three people, aged 60 and above, have been abandoned and do not receive financial support from their children. The survey based on the 2010 Population and Housing Census included senior citizens abandoned in hospitals and those living in welfare homes.

He proposed the government to enact a Maintenance of Parents Act to protect parent’s rights from callous children. He also highlighted the high penalty imposed on children in other countries which have implemented similar acts where the punishment included hefty fines or imprisonment.

In India, children who fail to provide monthly allowance as ordered by court can be punished up to three months in prison or imposed a Rs5,000 fine (RM305.50) while in Taiwan those who abandoned their parents may face up to a year in prison or a fine up to $200,000 (around RM20,740).

In Singapore, the Maintenance of Parents Act 1995, states that parents are entitled to make maintenance claims from their children. The punishment for failure to provide maintenance, included a maximum fine of S$5,000 (RM12,200) or up to six months imprisonment.

A healthy relationship between parents and their childen can only take place through the power of love, not by enactment of law.

In the Ten Commandments which are divided into two tables, the first lays the foundation of all duty in our relation to God, while the second rears the superstructure in the various offices of love between man and his fellow.
God honours his own ordinances, the family. He gives parents rank next after himself. Filial love stands near, and leans on godliness. Love to parents ranks next under reverences to God.
Honouring thy father and mother is an ornament of solid gold.

Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. NIV

Honoring our parents has no age limit.

Mother Teresa said : "Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty".

Our time on earth is limited

Time and tide wait for no man.

The relentless ticking of the clock reminds us that our time on earth is limited. Despite the joys and pains of life, time always marches on. For the believer, our time on earth is an opportunity for gaining wisdom.
" Let's ask God to "teach us to number our days" (Psalms 90:12) so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

One way of numbering our days and make good use of our spare moments is to ask :-
How can I become more Christ-like?
Am I reading the Word of God regularly?
Am I devoting time to prayer?
Am I meeting together with other believers?
Am I sharing the gospel with other pre believers?

The psalmist wrote : "LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee." (Psalm 39:4-7 KJV)

Don't spend your time - invest it.

Be With You in 2012

Be With You

Savior of my soul
I confide in you
Through all my darkest moment
In you I find my peace
My comfort when I'm weak
I trust in You, through storm and raging sea

Faithful, You're my God
You're the Glory and the Lifter of my head
Your light it fills my days
It leads me in Your ways
Forever I surrender all to You

Chorus
And I live to worship You
My Jesus You're the only one for me
Nothing will ever take Your place
My precious Savior
Who can stand between my Lord and me

Lord I live to honor You
And I long to bring my life an offering
Take me higher
Draw me deeper
I give all to be with You

[Translated from "Selalu Menyembahmu" by Sendy Stepvina]

One-Third in World are Christians

A major study (Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life) released on Monday puts the total number of Christians worldwide at 2.18 billion, or 31.7% - nearly a third of the estimated global populaton of 6.9 billions while Muslim comprise the second largest group, with about 1.6 billion people.
I wander how many of those 2.18 billion are truely followers of Christ - or are they just Sunday Christians.

According to Wikipedia - A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament.

The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to describe anything associated with Christianity, or in a proverbial sense "all that is noble, and good, and Christ-like."It is also used as a label to identify people who associate with the cultural aspects of Christianity, irrespective of personal religious beliefs or practices.

Christians must examine themselves regularly to see whether they are living as Christians (II Corintians 13:5, I Corintians 9:27).

The Bible describes a Christian as one who is a new creation, having put to death the former sinful self (II Corintians 5:17, Galatians 2:20, Romans 6:6). Because of our love for and responsibility to God, we strive to follow the New Testament pattern for Christian living.
However, because we all sin, we never reach the perfection for which we strive (Romans 3:23, I John 1:8). If we will follow in Jesus' footsteps, His blood will continue to cleanse us of sins (I John 1:7, II Corintians 5:7).
Nevertheless, we are not saved because of any of these works of righteousness of ours, but through the grace of God (Acts 15:11, Titus 3:5).
Let us continue to please God and "walk worthy of the Lord" (Colossion 1:10).

Let us be Christians that are known for our righteousness, faithfulness, love, service, example, and self-control.

Only as Christians who are striving to serve and please God according to His will can we know and feel "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding" (Philippians 4:7).

E.N.D.

Emotional Neglect and Depression appear to be the biggest problems among Malaysian children, if calls to the country's first 24-hour helpline for children, 15999 Childline are anything to go by. Forty percent of the children calling the helpline had symptoms of psychosocial and mental health problems. Of the 5,127 calls that Childline received since its launch on November 20 last year, 2,044 were from children who were bored, lonely, stressed or depressed, with some even having suicidal tendencies. Some were as young as 4 - most were latchkey kids.

[New Sunday Time 18-Dec-2011]

Children want our time and attention. They want to give and receive affection. They also want to play and eat together as a family, to jump and run, to climb and explore. They want to go to bed each night knowing that they are safe and loved.

The foundation of a child is how we as a parent bring them up physically, spiritually and mentally.

Parents roles are to prepare them to leave us as independent, emotionally resilient beings with a strong moral and social compass. That means being loving and kind while setting clear behavioural boundaries and consequences, positive as well as negative.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. Proverbs 29:17

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4

Fear of the Lord

One of the best words to describe the fear of the Lord is reverence. Reverence is a response to a revelation of God. When God reveals Himself, I believe the only appropriate response is reverence. And with it goes submissiveness. A submissive attitude towards God is an expression of the fear of the Lord in our lives. - Derek Prince

Some of the benefits of the fear of the Lord in the book of Proverbs :-

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction - Proverbs 1:7
Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil - Proverbs 3:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understandin - Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened - Proverbs 10:27
In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge - Proverbs 14:26
The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death-Proverbs 14:27
Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith - Proverbs 15:16
The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility- Proverbs 15:33
By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil - Proverbs 16:6
The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil - Proverbs 19:23
By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life - Proverbs 22:4

IF WE FEAR AND LOVE GOD, WE WILL OBEY HIM.

Pondering my path....

I was pondering the years that went by when Deuteronomy 8 and Proverbs 4 came to mind.
In Deuteronomy, it reminded us to "remember that the Lord God led you all he way......."[verse 8] and to "beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments" [verse 11]. In the book of Proverbs, we are to be careful and choose our road in life with wisdom.

Two significant events in my life took place this year : my daughter joined NTU, Singapore in early August while my son graduated from Curtin University at the end of the same month.
Praise be to God for His presence in my family life and His promises of the life to come.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. Proverbs 4:23-27

NEVER LET THE ABUNDANCE OF GOD'S GIFTS CAUSE YOU TO FORGET THE GIVER